The proposed rotation of key England players was made irrelevant with the final ODI against West Indies at Headingley being rained off. Photograph: Scott Heppell/AP

The Good Lord does not seem too enamoured with the England cricket team's rotation policy (He/She appears to have lost a bit of enthusiasm for the domestic T20 competition as well). Every time England adopts the rotation policy against West Indies, the series having been won, the temperature drops and the heavens open. Around the counties the same seems to happen when their Twenty20 matches, the critical cash cow of the modern game, are scheduled to take place.

Only the most precious of punters will complain about rotation rather than the weather. It matters little that the Headingley crowd missed out on watching Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann or even Tim Bresnan, the beloved Bresnan of Castleford, since they missed out on cricket fullstop. This weather is making everyone around the counties ever more miserable; even worse, it is making them poorer.

So perhaps it's good news that the Australians are here. If the sun shines their presence should at least fill some of the grounds and some of the coffers, even though the five-match series, which begins at Lord's on Friday, may be essentially meaningless (except that the World Cup is now less than three years away).

If England could rush to a 3-0 lead against Australia then we could all revel in some more rotation. England could opt to play their second team in the last two matches. Many of us are still scarred by the Ashes tour of 1994-95 when one of the Australian broadsheets put a photo of the Australia A side on their back page and asked its readers: "Is this the second best cricket team in the world?" This was a question devoid of irony.

Having embraced rotation, England should stick with it, whoever the opposition. It is the England management's most eloquent way of informing their bosses of the ludicrous schedules that are devised for their international cricketers. Understandably, Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss are reluctant to be too candid about those schedules since they might upset their employers. In public, Flower merely says they are "tough", which sounds to me like a euphemism.

The selection issues have not been too taxing this summer once the principle of rotation has been established but come August there will be more frayed nerves within the cricketing fraternity. In particular, look at the little hiatus between the second and third Tests against South Africa, a series that should be the high point of the summer. The schedule from 7-17 August will have selectors at international and county level tearing their hair out in exasperation.

In this period the England Lions (is this the second best …? No, perhaps not) play two four-day matches against Australia A. In themselves they should be fascinating, revealing contests with bragging rights at stake, but counties denied key players in the Championship run-in will be exceedingly grumpy. However, the crackerjack fixture is on 12 August when England play Scotland in an ODI in Edinburgh. The Test players, including the ODI captain, Alastair Cook, should not be required to play in that game with the series against South Africa in the balance; the Lions are otherwise engaged playing against the Australians.

It seems as if the selectors and the England management have been given an unplayable lie by the administrators. How can they avoid insulting the Scots by picking a sub-standard side and stoking the ire of Alex Salmond, who knows his cricket? How can they avoid dishing out cheap international caps that devalue the achievement of playing for England?

As ever the Observer seeks to help. Pick players already capped by England, but not in contention for the Lions or the senior side. Problem solved; no easy caps and the Scots cannot complain too much – unless they happen to win.

Remarkably, given the consistency of selection in recent times, there are at least 35 candidates available: five quality wicketkeepers (Foster, Read, Mustard, Ambrose and Jones), a creaking Fab Three (the originals bar Flintoff, who might feel qualified to go along as a guest commentator) and a band of one-Test wonders (Blackwell, Pattinson, Amjad Khan, Kabir Ali, Lewis, Carberry, Tredwell and Shahzad – although the last three may still hope to be expelled from the club).